The AP Continues Their Efforts

A new hit piece has come out from the Associated Press. The "news" being reported here is that people are interested in his papers and supposedly these papers show inconsistencies or "nuances" in his positions. They continue their attempt to discredit FDT as a conservative and as a candidate in general.

Before I go into the insane article, I want to point out something quite inconsistent in the political wisdom being repeated these days: many keep saying that things will get more difficult for FDT when he gets into the race because at that point his positions will be put under deep scrutiny. I think the steady stream of articles being put out over the last month or so show that he is being scrutinized quite a bit. If the AP, NY Times, LA Times and Boston Globe can't find more than what they are coming up with right now, I think Fred will do OK.

Back to the AP story. The assertions are as follows:
1. Inconsistency on abortion. The basic thrust being that his papers and most statements show him to be pro-life, yet he made statements about not criminalizing abortion and he supposedly lobbied for an abortion group (quoting the LA Times). I won't cover this ground again except to say that there is no fire here.

2. He told one group that he opposed allowing federal employees to strike, but he opposed legislation allowing for the replacement of striking workers. I wonder if the legislation being discussed was even about federal workers. Do you see a difference between provisions not allowing a class of workers to strike and a provision to break a union by allowing replacement ("scab") workers? This assertion is quite devoid of any real information and context.

3. Probably my favorite in this group is that he told a group that he supported a balanced federal budget AND he voted for such a plan, but he did not support the group's plan because it contained increased taxes. I think I love this one so much because it demonstrates FDT's ideas about taxing and budgets. You do not have to raise taxes to balance the budget!!! We are currently demonstrating how lower tax rates can increase tax revenues. But more than that, you balance a budget by controlling your spending.

4. Duncan Mansfield (the author) seems amazed that FDT supports gun rights. He doesn't paint any inconsistencies here, just states that Fred is for guns for pretty much every reason. Sounds like my kind of guy.

5. He is inconsistent on the arts because he is an actor that believes that the National Endowment for the Arts should have its budget reduced and that no materials that is unfit for broadcast by the FCC should receive any federal money. Here I disagree from FDT: I think the NEA should be have its budget zeroed and the federal government has no business funding the arts anyway. For whatever reason, though, the AP doesn't understand that you can be for art and free expression and the first amendment, but not for federal funding of those expressions.

To me, this article shows FDT's federalism consistently. Unfortunately it also shows that there is little understanding of what it means. That will be Fred's challenge throughout the election and throughout his Presidency.

An as far as the AP is concerned, Mansfield gets it right when he summarized, "...the papers haven't revealed any bombshells so far..."

But the AP keeps trying.